Shadwell is a district of

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...

, England, in the

London Borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, London borough covering much of the traditional East End of London, East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, metropol ...

, east of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City ...

. It lies on the north bank of the Thames between Wapping (to the west) and Ratcliff (to the east). This riverside location has meant the area's history and character have been shaped by the maritime trades. Historically a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of the Manor and Ancient Parish of Stepney,Young's guide describes Hamlets as devolved areas of Parishes - but does not describe this area specifically it became a parish in its own right in 1670. the area of the Hamlet and Parish included areas south of Cable Street including Shadwell Basin and the

King Edward Memorial Park King Edward Memorial Park is a public open space in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, on the northern bank of the River Thames. It was opened in 1922 in memory of King Edward VII. With an area of 3.3 hectares, it is the 11th largest par ...

History

Etymology

In the 13th century, the area was a low lying marsh''Shadwell''
''The Copartnership Herald'', Vol. II, no. 23 (Christmas 1932-January 1933)accessed: 26 August 2008 known as ''Scadflet'', from the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

, meaning a shallow creek or bay. Because a spring by a church dedicated to

St Chad Chad of Mercia (died 2 March 672) was a prominent 7th-century Anglo-Saxon Catholic monk who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonised ...

filled a nearby well, a

false etymology A false etymology (fake etymology, popular etymology, etymythology, pseudo-etymology, or par(a)etymology) is a popular but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word. It is sometimes called a folk etymology, but this is also a ...

changed the name into Chadwelle. This changed further into Shadwell.

Origins

In 1975, archaeologists discovered evidence of a port complex between Ratcliff and Shadwell, that was used throughout

Roman occupation of Britain Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...

, and being most active in the 3rd century AD. The port seems to have initially been used for seagoing ships into the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, which is believed to have stopped between 250 and 270AD. A water level drop meant that the port was used primarily for the public bath house near St George in the East, which existed from the first to fourth centuries. Archaeologists also found evidence of a late third-century signal tower in Shadwell. A Roman cemetery containing two coffins was also discovered in Shadwell in around 1615.

16th and 17th centuries

Shadwell's eastern waterfront had been drained in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

whilst the western waterfront had been drained during the reign of

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

, by Cornelius Vanderdelf after an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of parliame ...

. This had been caused by an increase in London's maritime activities in the 16th century. The riverside areas of East London experienced rapid, low quality development, that reached Shadwell in the late 16th century. Writing in 1598,

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The ...

describes the poverty of the riverside development that took place then, with its: John Stow also recalls elm trees being felled in order to make way for tenements. Away from the river the area remained largely undeveloped. In 1650, Shadwell had 703 buildings. Of the houses, 195 were single-storey houses, 473 were two-storey houses, and 33 were three-storey houses, although many were subdivided. The population of Shadwell in 1650 was around 3,500. In the 1660s, a

hearth tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is c ...

was introduced, although around 50% of residents in Shadwell were deemed too poor to pay the tax. In 1669, Thomas Neale became a local landowner, buying some land reclaimed from the river, and gained Shadwell

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

status. In addition, Neale built 289 homes, a mill, and a market, and also established a waterworks on large ponds left by the draining of the marsh. The area had been largely undeveloped and he developed the waterfront, with houses behind as a speculation, and in doing so provided fresh water for Shadwell and Wapping. Shadwell's maritime industries were further developed with roperies, tanneries, breweries, wharves, smiths, and numerous taverns, as well as the chapel of St Paul's. Seventy-five sea captains are buried in its churchyard; Captain James Cook had his son baptised there. Shadwell's new houses were built in an orderly fashion, so that the streets ran between Ratcliff Highway and

Wapping Wall Wapping Wall is a street located in the East End of London at Wapping. It runs parallel to the northern bank of the River Thames, with many converted warehouses facing the river. On this street is the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, built in 18 ...

. In 1674, Shadwell had a population of around 8,000. The prosperity in this period has been linked to the road connections into London, which were maintained by wealthy taxpayers from

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

18th and 19th centuries

By the mid-eighteenth century, Shadwell Spa was established, producing sulphurous waters, in Sun Tavern fields. As well as being used for medicinal purposes, salts were extracted from the waters and used by local calicoprinters to fix their dyes. By the mid-eighteenth century, many houses in Shadwell had been rebuilt. "Seamen, watermen and lightermen, coalheavers and shopkeepers, and ropemakers, coopers, carpenters and smiths, lived in small lathe and plaster or weatherboard houses, two storeys and a garret high, with one room on each floor"; the average rent was £2-7. In 1768, London coal workers who were protesting for higher wages began shooting at the landlord of the Roundabout Tavern in Shadwell; as a result, seven of them were hanged in the Sun Tavern fields. Their execution was witnessed by around 50,000 spectators, the largest crowd at a hanging since the hanging of Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers in 1760. in 1794, many houses on the

Ratcliffe Highway The Highway, part of which was formerly known as the Ratcliffe Highway, is a road in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. The route dates back to Roman times. In the 19th century it had a reputation for vice and crim ...

were destroyed by a fire which "consumed more houses than any one conflagration has done since the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...

", and also destroyed many boats, and around £40,000 of sugar. Shadwell Waterworks was sold in 1801 to the London Dock Company; the waterworks were the first ones in London to use a

Watt steam engine The Watt steam engine design became synonymous with steam engines, and it was many years before significantly new designs began to replace the basic Watt design. The first steam engines, introduced by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, were of the "a ...

in 1788. The waterworks were later sold to the East London Waterwork Company for £300,000 in 1808, after an Act of Parliament allowed the company to obtain a

compulsory purchase Compulsion may refer to: * Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so. * Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by ...

order. The modern area is dominated by the enclosed former dock, Shadwell Basin, whose construction destroyed much of the earlier settlement – by this time degenerated into slums. The basin once formed the eastern entrance to the then London Docks, with a channel leading west to St Katharine Docks. It is actually two dock basins - the south basin was constructed in 1828-32 and the north basin in 1854–8. A new entrance to Shadwell dock was opened in 1832, giving Shadwell access to the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. Between 1854 and 1858, a 45 feet wide new entrance to the docks was constructed to allow larger ships into the dock. Shadwell Basin was one of three locked basins connecting the docks to the River Thames, and is the only one of the three still in existence today. In 1865, HMS Amazon docked at Shadwell Basin in order to pick up around 800

Mormons Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into sever ...

who were emigrating to

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and in 1869, the '' Blue Jacket'' clipper, then the fastest clipper in the world, began her journey to

Canterbury, New Zealand Canterbury ( mi, Waitaha) is a region of New Zealand, located in the central-eastern South Island. The region covers an area of , making it the largest region in the country by area. It is home to a population of The region in its current f ...

in Shadwell Basin. In 1865 during excavation for the creations of some docks at Shadwell, four nearby houses were flooded. In 1844, Shadwell was recorded as having had a population of 10,060, and having ten

almshouses An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certai ...

built using money from

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean and ...

. Watney Market developed into a busy shopping area around this time. In the 19th century, Shadwell was home to a large community of foreign

South Asian South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

'' lascar'' seamen, brought over from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

. There were also Anglo-Indians, from intermarriage and cohabitation between ''lascar'' seamen and local girls. There were also smaller communities of Chinese and Greek seamen, who also intermarried and cohabited with locals. In 1805, lascars caused disturbances in the streets of Shadwell which ended with 15 people being hospitalised, and 19 people being arrested. During Victorian times, Shadwell and the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

were not seen as pleasant places. The growth of Shadwell's port led to an increase in the number of prostitutes in the area, and the area was known as the centre of the capital's opium smoking, and in 1861, Shadwell paid a poor rate of 3 s. 9d. An 1889 book ''The Bitter Cry of Outcast London'' described Ratcliffe, Shadwell and Bermondsey as a "revolting spectacle", a "dark vision", and a "ghastly reality", whilst

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

' unfinished novel ''

The Mystery of Edwin Drood ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' is the final novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in 1870. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, it focuses more on Drood's uncle, John Jasper, a precentor, choirmaster and opium ...

'' involves a journey to an opium den in Shadwell, which includes the line "Eastward and still eastward through the stale streets he takes his way, until he reaches his destination: a miserable court, specially miserable amongst many such." In 1885, Shadwell Fish Market was opened as an alternative to

Billingsgate Fish Market Billingsgate Fish Market is located in Canary Wharf in London. It is the United Kingdom's largest inland fish market. It takes its name from Billingsgate, a ward in the south-east corner of the City of London, where the riverside market was or ...

. Although Shadwell had the advantage of three times the river frontage of Billingsgate and access via train, the fish market was ultimately unsuccessful. In 1901, it was sold to the City of London Corporation, and was eventually closed in 1914. The site later became

in 1922, when it was opened by

King George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

, and was Shadwell's first park. From 1868 to 1932, Shadwell was home to the East London Hospital for Children (later the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children), before it moved to Wapping, and was later closed down in 1963.

20th century

In 1906, the

Corporation of London The City of London Corporation, officially and legally the Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London, is the municipal governing body of the City of London, the historic centre of London and the location of much of the United Ki ...

agreed to contribute £500 to the widening of Shadwell High Street to . In 1916, seven women were killed in a sack factory fire; around 50 women were in the building at the time, and the rest escaped. The five-storey warehouse was almost completely destroyed. In 1934, a bomb was found four feet below the surface of Shadwell High Street; the bomb was believed to be from the German

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

air raids on the area. In 1936 residents of Shadwell were heavily involved in the Battle of Cable Street which took place nearby, when Oswald Mosley's

fascists Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

attempted to march through the East End, in order to intimidate the areas large Jewish population. The police ordered Mosley to abandon his march when 250,000 or more protestors blocked his way, and police attempts to clear a way for him were unsuccessful. Workers in Shadwell continued to oppose the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...

, and in 1937, Shadwell dockers threatened an unofficial strike after local casual dock labourer Cecil Anthony Hiron was nominated as a BUF candidate in the Stepney Council elections in November; Hiron later withdrew his nomination. In 1969, the Shadwell Docks, along with the other London docks, closed and were purchased by Tower Hamlets Council. During the 1970s, the docks became derelict, before being bought by the London Docklands Development Corporation, who built 169 houses and flats by the basin in 1987. The Watney Market area was demolished and rebuilt during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1987, Shadwell DLR station was opened, which connected Shadwell to

Tower Gateway Tower Gateway is a Docklands Light Railway (DLR) station in the City of London and is located near the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. It adjoins the tracks to Fenchurch Street station and is located on the site of a former station called Mi ...

near Fenchurch Street, and later also Bank station from 1991.

Parish church

St Pauls Church Shadwell and the Thames riverfront - geograph

St. Paul's Shadwell with St. James Ratcliffe, is traditionally known as the ''Church of Sea Captains''. In 1656 the church was established as a ''Chapel of Ease'', from St Dunstan's, at Stepney. In 1669, it was rebuilt as the Parish Church of Shadwell, and it was the last of five parish churches rebuilt after the Restoration. In 1820, it was again rebuilt as a ' Waterloo church'. Captain

was an active parishioner and

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, theologian, and evangelist who was a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded became the dominant form of the independent Meth ...

preached in the church from time to time.

Isham Randolph of Dungeness Isham Randolph (February 24, 1687 – November 2, 1742) Randolph was a planter, a merchant, a public official, and a shipmaster. He was the maternal grandfather of United States President Thomas Jefferson. Early life Isham Randolph was born o ...

, one of

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

's grandfathers and son of William Randolph, was married in St. Paul's church.

Local government elections

Every four years, residents of Wapping ward elect two councillors to represent them on

Tower Hamlets Council Tower Hamlets London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in Greater London, England. The council is unusual in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, curr ...

. In 2014, residents elected two Tower Hamlets First councillors. In 2018, they elected one Liberal Democrat councillor and one Labour councillor.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, 15,110 people lived in Shadwell. Residents of

Bangladeshi Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay. Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...

origin accounted for 52% of Shadwell's population in the 2011 census, with

White British White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...

people comprising 20% of the ward. The next largest ethnic group was

Other White The term Other White is a classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom and has been used in documents such as the 2011 UK Census to describe people who self-identify as white (chiefly European) persons who are not of the English, Welsh, ...

at 9%. 52.9% of people were born in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, with the next highest being 20.8% of people being born in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

. The most common religion in Shadwell is

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

, with 54.8% of people identifying as

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, the next highest being 20.6% who identified as

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

Landmarks

St George in the East on Cannon Street Road is one of six

Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principa ...

churches in London, built from 1714 to 1729, with funding from the

Commission for Building Fifty New Churches The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches (in London and the surroundings) was an organisation set up by Act of Parliament in England in 1711, the New Churches in London and Westminster Act 1710, with the purpose of building fifty new church ...

. The church was hit by a bomb during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

the original interior was destroyed by the fire, but the walls and distinctive "pepper-pot" towers remained intact. In 1964 a modern church interior was constructed inside the existing walls for the active congregation, and a new flat built under each corner tower. Behind the church lies St George's Gardens, the original cemetery, which was passed to Stepney Council to maintain as a public park in mid-Victorian times. At the outbreak of the Second World War the

crypt A crypt (from Latin '' crypta'' " vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics. Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a c ...

of the church was used as a public air raid shelter and was fully occupied when the aforementioned bomb struck. There were no casualties and everyone was evacuated safely (thanks to the air raid wardens and fire brigade.)

Notable current and former residents of Shadwell

Jane Randolph Jefferson Jane Randolph Jefferson (February 10, 1720 – March 31, 1776) was the wife of Peter Jefferson and the mother of US president Thomas Jefferson. Born in the parish of Shadwell, near London, she was the daughter of Isham Randolph, a ship's ...

(born 9 February 1720) – Mother of

* Eliza Roberts (1802-1878), Head Nurse under

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War ...

during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, born in Shadwell * Sir

William Henry Perkin Sir William Henry Perkin (12 March 1838 – 14 July 1907) was a British chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first commercial synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in trying ...

(12 March 1838 - 14 July 1907) – born in Shadwell and at the age of 18 discovered the first

aniline Aniline is an organic compound with the formula C6 H5 NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the simplest aromatic amine. It is an industrially significant commodity chemical, as well as a versatile starti ...

dye while doing experiments at his home in Cable Street. * Walter Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) — essayist and critic *

Frederick Albert Bridge Frederick Albert Bridge or F. A. Bridge (18 December 1841 – 29 December 1917) was an English photographer, organist, singer and choirmaster. He was born in Shadwell. He maintained a professional photographer's studio at Dalston Lane, Hackney, ...

(18 December 1841 – 29 December 1917) - photographer, singer, conductor and choirmaster * Ted Juniper (born 3 December 1901, date of death unknown) – footballer * Mildred Gordon (24 August 1923 - 8 April 2016) — Member of Parliament for Bow & Poplar (1987-1997) and teacher at Shadwell's Nicholas Gibson School, born and lived there until 1962 *

Norman Giller Norman Giller (born 18 April 1940, Stepney, East End, London) is an English author, a sports historian and television scriptwriter, who in October 2015 had his 100th book published. His 101st book, ''July 30, 1966 Football's Longest Day'', was pub ...

(18 April 1940 -) — sports historian and prolific author, born and lived there until 1960 *

Bob Crow Robert Crow (13 June 196111 March 2014) was an English trade union leader who served as the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from 2002 until his death in 2014. He was also a member of the Gen ...

(13 June 1961 – 11 March 2014) –

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

leader * Jah Wobble, lived there from the early 1980s to mid-1990s — musician and writer

Education

Specifically local schools include Blue Gate Fields and Bigland Green Primary school; and Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School. Also, Mulberry School For Girls

Transport and locale

Shadwell tube station is located just north of Cable Street, the area's historic northern boundary with the St George in the East area of Wapping. Shadwell DLR station lies 50 metres to the north and re-uses the former Shadwell & St. George's East railway station which took its name from its location on the boundary of the two areas, and closed in 1941. ;Nearest places * Limehouse * Ratcliff * Stepney * Wapping

THCH Hop Festival

In 2006 local Housing Association, Tower Hamlets Community Housing (THCH) built a new block of flats in Shadwell, adjacent to the existing flats at the corner of Cable Street and Devonport Street, called Thirza House. It was opened by Mildred Gordon, a former Shadwell resident and MP for the area from 1987 to 1997. As part of the new development THCH built a hop garden. Since 2007, THCH have held a Hop Festival every September in the hop garden to commemorate the tradition of generations of East Enders temporarily migrating to Kent's hop gardens to harvest the hops. THCH have produced souvenir booklets containing historical photos of East Enders harvesting hops which are available from Tower Hamlets Community Housing. In 2009 the Shadwell hops were harvested by the local residents and Brodies Brewery in Leyton used them to create a new beer called "Old Hopper's Brew". The beer sold out within a month.

In popular culture

Wilfred Owen Wilfred Edward Salter Owen MC (18 March 1893 – 4 November 1918) was an English poet and soldier. He was one of the leading poets of the First World War. His war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was much influenced b ...

's poem "Shadwell Stair", previously alleged to be mysterious, was a straightforward elegy to homosexual soliciting in an area of the London docks once renowned for it, according to Jonathan Cutbill. The 1967 film '' To Sir, with Love'' was shot in Shadwell. Shadwell and in particular the fictional

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

club Shadwell Town FC are the setting for the 1995 BBC films football hooligan film '' I. D.'' and its 2016 sequel '' ID2: Shadwell Army''.

Notes

References

{{LB Tower Hamlets Districts of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Areas of London Port of London District centres of London